Cartel launderer pleads guilty in S.A. real estate deals

Updated 4:07 pm, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Photo: Mike Fisher

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A typical money laundering operation uses three stages to separate drug proceeds from their origins and enters them into the legitimate economy, said Jim Dowling, managing director of the Dowling Advisory Group and former anti money-laundering advisor to the White House Drug Policy Office. Federal prosecutors allege that a money-laundering organization based in Guadalajara and San Antonio used the three stages:

A typical money laundering operation uses three stages to separate drug proceeds from their origins and enters them into the legitimate economy, said Jim Dowling, managing director of the Dowling Advisory Group

The son of a wealthy real estate magnate from Guadalajara, Mexico, admitted Wednesday afternoon to laundering drug cartel money in San Antonio land deals.

Alejandro Sánchez Garza, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to launder money. Prosecutors had alleged that Alejandro Sánchez and a brother, Mauricio, had coordinated the delivery of U.S. drug sales to their business in Guadalajara, then wired the money to companies or front men in the U.S. to make it appear legitimate.

Between 2005 and 2010, the Sánchez brothers wired millions of dollars to the U.S., which was used to invest in a movie script, real estate development and a restaurant, according to court records.

Alejandro Sánchez ran the now closed Barbaresco Tuscan Grill and Enoteca on San Pedro Avenue. It has since been sold at a government auction.